


A Bird in the Hand

by htbthomas



Category: Playing House (TV)
Genre: F/M, Kissing, New Relationship, Teamwork, Yuletide 2015, bar trivia, seeing someone in a new light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-04 05:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5322935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/htbthomas/pseuds/htbthomas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zach threads his way back to Tina’s table. He’s gonna do it. He’s gonna ask Tina to partner up with him for the trivia game. When he catches sight of her again around the the heads of the people in the crowd, she’s frozen in place, her eyes wide. She’s gripping the table, too, her neatly manicured nails perched on the edge. “Something wrong?” he asks, setting the glass of Merlot in front of her.</p><p>“I—I think I’d better go."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bird in the Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fearlessfan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fearlessfan/gifts).



> My recipient wanted an exploration of Tina/Zach as a pairing -- I'm so glad she did. I never would have thought about it, and it's kind of awesome! :)
> 
> Thanks to my beta, ishie!

"Oh, no, uh uh, that is not gonna fly." Maggie gives her head a vehement shake, her finger resting on the list of trivia night participants. She slides her finger under the offending names, Emma Crawford, Mark Rodriguez, and then stabs them a couple more times for emphasis.

Zach is only about a yard away from them, but they're completely in their own world as always, and don't see him.

Emma crinkles up her face in apology. "Sorry, Mags, I just, you know. Trivia is my jam." She dances a little, her hips swiveling. "And I think I should share it with my new main squeeze."

Maggie smiles. "That's right, he is your new main squeeze, isn't he? You keep on squeezing that fine—"

Emma makes a lewd gesture that Zach isn't sure is public-appropriate. "That's right, I will, oh, yeah—"

Zach can't take it anymore, it's been a month of celebrating Emma's old-but-new-again love, even he has limits. He decides to turn around and go the other way, but the press of bodies around the sign-up list prevents him. He sighs and stays put.

Maggie seems to come to herself again. She gives Emma a slit-eyed glare. "Yeah, Em. Control your raging hormones in mixed company, would you?" She elbows Emma. "So really, you're gonna shut me out, your best friend in the world, the mother of the cutest little girl on the planet—"

Emma sighs. "She really is."

"—to team up with your boyfriend?"

Maggie shakes her head. "I thought you were better than this."

Emma plants her fists on her hips and gives the slit-eyed stare right back. "I seem to remember a certain fresh-faced, starry-eyed young girl blowing me off for Bruce more than once. You think I went to China just because of money?"

Maggie clucks her tongue. "It was a lot of money."

"Yeah, I was basically rolling in it, wasn't I?" Emma brays a laugh. "I remember the—"

Zach tunes them out. These two can't stay mad at each other for longer than a second. He hadn't known it was Trivia Night in the first place. He'd overheard Maggie talking about hitting Rosie's Bar and he thought it would be fun to get out tonight. And who doesn't love a good Trivia Night? After all, Pinebrook is a tiny town. What else is there to do? Problem is, he doesn't have a partner. He starts scanning the crowd—surely there's someone here who'd go in with him…

"Zach!" He hears Maggie as she finally catches sight of him. "There's my partner, since this traitor wants to team up with her boyfriend." She pokes Emma in various places on her torso as she speaks. "C'mon, sign up with me! Brother-sister team for the motherlovin' win!"

"Me?" Well, that does solve his need for a partner, but he'd been hoping to make a new connection… "All right." He can't say no to his sister. He never could.

Maggie pumps her fist. "Yessss. Family love will stomp all over your rekindled love."

Emma rolls her eyes. "Yeah, don't be so sure. I've played against you two for years. Watch yourself, Maggie-girl."

The trash talk starts up then. As it escalates, he gestures that he's heading for the bar to grab a beer. They don't even notice. Just another day in the whirlwind of Maggie and Emma's friendship. "Shock Top, please," he calls out to the overworked bartender. Trivia Night is more popular than he remembers. The bartender nods, snags a bottle out of the fridge, opens it one-handed and hands it over. Zach digs a five out of his wallet and leaves it on the counter.

As he's turning to go back to Maggie and Emma, a new crowd of people is surging forward, calling out their orders. Their voices blend together, their bodies pressing his back against the wooden edge of the bar. He looks over toward the girls, to signal them that he's on his way back just in case they wondered, but surprise, they're not looking in his direction. Emma is frowning at the screen of the phone in her hand, Maggie's face is full of concern. She pats Emma's shoulder in commiseration. What's going on there?

He tries pushing through the crowd again, holding his beer high above the heads of the other patrons. Suddenly he hears a high-pitched squeal of pain.

"Ow!"

He looks down, at a woman whose body is curled up in agony. She seems familiar, though to be honest, he can't fully see her face. She's trying to reach down to lift her foot, but the press of people is making it difficult.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I just didn't see you there. Did I step on you?" How embarrassing!

"A little," she says in a tiny voice, still rubbing at her foot. "It's nothing…" She gets pushed to the left, away from the bar.

He can tell it's not nothing. "Hey, you want this?" He lowers his beer. "I haven't touched it yet, and it's the least I can do…"

She tilts her head to look up at him. "Is it gluten-free? ‘Cause I'll be a wreck later if I don't stick to gluten-free."

It's then that he realizes just who she is. "B—b—uh, Tina?" It really is, it's Mark's ex. If Mark's coming tonight, that is going to be Fifty Shades of Awkward.

"Yes…?" She doesn't seem to recognize him, and why would she? They've hardly exchanged more than two sentences at a time, even when Mark and she were still married.

"It's Zach. Zach Harper. I'm Mag—"

"Oh!" she cries, and it's not embarrassed at all. "Maggie's brother! Yes! Sorry, there's just so many people, and I—" She winces.

"Here, let me help you to a table, and we'll get a waitress to set you up with that gluten-free beer." It's the least he can do, stepping on her with his giant feet and all.

As he's helping her limp to the nearest empty chair (there aren't many), she asks, "Can it be a Merlot? Wine is safer, I think." She smiles, and it's so bright and grateful that he takes a step back.

"Sure. I'll just, uh…" He points behind him at the bar and then flashes an awkward smile in return, before wading back through the crowd.

Wow, Trivia Night is really popular. Maybe he should have stayed home and binge-watched whatever Netflix released last Friday. He looks behind him at Tina, sitting there at a table, looking around hopefully. Was she supposed to meet someone here? Did they stand her up? He knows he's sort of expected to be Team Emma and Mark by default, but he remembers that grateful smile and pushes on to get to the bar.

With the Merlot in one hand and the beer bottle in the other, Zach turns around and smacks right into Maggie. "Whoa!" she says when the wine barely misses turning her plain yellow scoopneck into an abstract art piece. "Doubling down tonight?"

"No, this is—" he starts to explain.

"Who am I kidding, if I weren't still nursing, I'd be double-fisted drinking, and not that tame stuff, either." She laughs, flips back her hair, and doesn't look him in the eyes. Uh oh. He knows what's coming. "So, Zach… looks like Ems is gonna need me to be her partner after all…"

Yep.

"Mark got held up at work—some robbery or whatever, so…"

He can't pat her on the shoulder, so he just nods his head in understanding. "I get it. I was," —he glances over his shoulder at where Tina is sitting, bopping her head gently to the music as she looks around the room— "thinking about making a new connection anyway."

"Good for you!" she says sincerely, but then calls past him to the bartender. "A couple of margaritas rocks! And a Coke for me!"

Zach threads his way back to Tina's table. He's gonna do it. He's gonna ask Tina to partner up with him for the trivia game. When he catches sight of her again around the the heads of the people in the crowd, she's frozen in place, her eyes wide. She's gripping the table, too, her neatly manicured nails perched on the edge. "Something wrong?" he asks, setting the glass of Merlot in front of her.

"I—I think I'd better go. Here, let me pay you for the wine…"

"No, don't worry about it." He watches helplessly as she stands and gathers her things. Maybe there's someone else here who'd throw in with him with only—he looks at the clock on the screens around the bar—five minutes to the beginning of the game. As a last ditch, he says, "Are you sure you have to go?"

"Yeah." She throws a nervous glance over his shoulder, and he turns to look. There's no one over there except… oh.

"It's because of Emma. Isn't it?"

"Um." She bites her lip, but she doesn't stop stuffing her things into her purse. "I can't stay here, not after, you know."

"I understand." He puts down his beer bottle and holds out his hand. "It was really nice to meet you." No, that's not right. His hand hangs there, and he doesn't put it away, making him look like the world's most awkward statue. "Talk to you again?" Except they've hardly ever talked… "See you. Nice to see you."

She laughs and takes his hand, presses it against hers, cool and delicate. "Meet is good, see is fine. We'll talk again. Later." Then she's gone, lost in the crowd, and out into the world.

Zach looks at the clock again and sighs. The game is starting in two minutes. Maybe he can play alone? Or just leave—Netflix is calling. Except he's got both a beer and a glass of wine here in front of him. Seems a shame to waste it. Oh! Maybe he could give it to Emma? She'd probably—

He suddenly sees Tina sitting down in the chair she vacated, purse clutched in her hands. "You need a partner for the game?"

"I—uh—" he stammers, surprised. "I thought you were leaving?"

"I..." She swallows and then squares her shoulders, sticking her chin out. "...I'm not going to let her run me off."

"Okay, then!" He jumps to his feet. "Just a sec!"

"Wait!" she calls. "Where are you going?"

"To, uh, to sign us up, as a team." He gives the clock a nervous glance. 30 seconds. "Less than a minute..."

"Then go, go!" She shoos him toward the sign-in list.

He manages to snatch the list just as it's being picked up by a waiter. "One more team?" Zach pleads.

"Got a team name?" the guy asks, eyes half-closed in exhaustion.

"Uh..."

He thinks for a second, then writes down the first thing he can think of before the sign-up sheet gets snatched away.

"All right, everyone!" Phil the emcee's voice booms out over the loudspeakers before Zach can tell where it's coming from. "Who's ready for some trivia!" People all over the bar cheer.

"This really is a tiny town," Zach murmurs.

The questions start off pretty easy. Things like, ‘In which African country was Star Wars: Episode 4 filmed?' or ‘Who was the first pilot to fly solo, nonstop, across the Atlantic Ocean?'

"Is he just warming us up?" he wonders aloud. There's gonna be a 20-way tie at this rate.

"Yeah," Tina says with a disappointed shake of her head. "I hope they have enough free-appetizer coupons for the whole bar." It's so close to his own thought that he can't help but smile.

"Oh, here's a tougher one, folks! ‘Which celebrity named his child Tu?'" Phil asks, and talk buzzes around the tables.

That is tougher. Zach doesn't follow celebrities much, maybe Tina—

Tina pulls the answer sheet over and scribbles the answer: Rob Morrow. She sets the pen down with a satisfied thwap.

"Nice one," he tells her, holding up his hand for a high-five.

She smacks it back. "Thanks. I follow a lot of celebrity news."

Zach turns his head to look over at Maggie and Emma, who are smiling in that I-knew-that-answer sort of way. If they hadn't gotten the answer right, he doubts there'd be even the slightest glimmer of a smile. Both of them are too competitive for that.

He's got the next answer, for 'What was Marvel Comics original name?' He writes down Timely with a flourish.

"Oo, nice!" Tina says. "You a fan?"

Zach takes a sip of his beer. "The history of graphic storytelling is quite fascinating."

"Really?" She plays with the straw in her water glass. "I don't think I've read a comic book since Betty and Veronica in elementary school." She sounds regretful rather than dismissive.

"Those were amazing," he tells her. "I used to steal them out of Maggie's room because I liked them better than Batman. Less plot holes."

Tina laughs. "I'm learning so much about you tonight!" she says, stressing the word ‘much' with a gentle press of her fingers on his arm.

"And me about you," he says, his thoughts lingering on her touch. Was that a friendly press or something more? Does he want it to be something more? In fact, he misses the beginning of the next question because of it.

"'—When Cary Grant bowed out, so did I.'"

"Wait, what was the question again?" he asks, embarrassed.

Tina doesn't answer at first. She's screwing up her face in thought, tapping her lips with a finger. Then she gasps in delight and writes down an answer. It's almost cartoonish, but also adorable.

He reads it. Jessica Fletcher on Murder She Wrote. He doesn't want to say the answer aloud, because it looks like a lot of teams are struggling to figure this one out. "How did you know that one?"

"It's because—" she starts to say animatedly, but then her face falls and she stumbles over the next words, "—Mark… loves the show. He watched it... a lot this year."

"Oh." He bets there are a lot of things that remind her of Mark. "At least it helped you get the right answer?"

"I guess so." She looks down at her fingers, flexing and unflexing. Is she about to bolt again?

There's a shout from a few tables away and they both look up. A waitress is holding a smartphone high in the air, like a captured prize. "Uh oh," Phil says over the microphone, "there's always one."

"But it was our babysitter!" the man complains. "I wasn't cheating!"

"That's what they all say," Phil responds, though he's quickly drowned out by boos and jeers from the other players. Zach joins in, nudging Tina, who starts to boo as well. Phil takes the confiscated phone and shakes it above his head. "Disqualified!"

Amidst the cheers, Tina says, "Glad I put mine away."

Zach nods. His is in his pocket—he's already ignored some insistent buzzing. Whoever it is can wait until the break.

Quietly, so quietly that he's not sure he was supposed to hear it, she adds, "Not that anyone calls me anymore."

His heart breaks a little for her. It must suck to have come between the Great-Star-Crossed-Lovers-of-Pinebrook. He's starting to see why she's so skittish about being here. But it would probably suck even more to hear that spoken aloud, so he says, "One team down, eighteen to go!"

"Doesn't matter." She takes a large swig of wine. "We're gonna kick their little patooties, anyway! Woot!"

"That's the spirit!" He takes a fortifying pull from his beer as well.

"All right, remaining players, you ready for the last question of the round?" Phil bellows. After he gets several return hoots and hollers, he reads, "What was Kenny Loggins' first soundtrack hit?"

Tina's face falls. "I don't know the first thing about Kenny Loggins."

Zach holds up the pen. "Ah, but I do! We had quite the adventure at a Kenny Loggins concert a couple of months ago." He writes down I'm Alright.

"Is that the song from Caddyshack?" she asks, a little too loudly. Then she covers her mouth quickly. "Oops," she murmurs from behind her fingers. "Do you think anyone heard?"

Zach casts his gaze around the tables beside them. "Maybe?" Then more loudly, he says, "No, I think it's Footloose." He elbows her lightly. "There, that ought to confuse them."

She grins, then glances down at the spot where his elbow had touched hers. She presses her lips together, and then licks them ever so slightly. Oh my. Her eyes come up, locking with his, and he's just frozen, thinking about the red dart of her tongue.

"It's tally time!" Phil says, breaking the spell. Thank god for this guy's enthusiasm. "Turn your Round 1 sheets in to your server and we'll be back for Round 2 in fifteen minutes!"

After handing their sheet in, he turns his attention back to Tina. She's downing the last of her Merlot. Looking into the bottom of the glass, she curls her lip and says, "There's still half the game left."

He's still got about a half a beer; he's the type to savor a wheat ale. He looks around for the waiter he just handed his sheet to, but he's gone. There's a girl halfway across the room with her back to them collecting sheets, and a guy crouched beside a table full of girls. No one else in sight. You'd think they'd schedule more servers on the popular theme nights...

He makes a decision, knocking back his beer. "Want another?"

She eyes the bar and its still-full complement of patrons. "And push through all those people?" she asks. With a sly grin, she adds, "I nearly got run over the last time I tried."

Zach laughs—he likes a kidder—and stands up. "I will be your snowplow, milady." Her face stills at the honorific. Uh oh, stupid Zach, too fast. Just because you might be into her doesn't mean she's into you. So he makes a goofy grinding noise and lifts his hands to imitate pushing the crowd away.

That does it. Her eyes twinkle, "Sir Snowplow, my hero."

He thinks about bowing, and then decides better of it. Enough with the mixed metaphors, it's time to get that drink.

It's a lot easier to get from their table to the bar this time, since most people are either turning in their sheet for the trivia game, or playing in the pool and darts area. He slips between a couple of people, and then gets rear-ended by someone pushing through. He turns immediately to apologize, even though he's pretty sure he's not to bla—

"Zachary Fitzgibbons Harper," Maggie says in a low voice, pulling him down to her level by his shirt collar. "Tell me you're not doing what it looks like you're doing."

"Oh, I don't know, what does it look like I'm doing?" He's been preparing for this since he first decided to ask Tina to be his partner. "Enjoying a nice game of bar trivia?"

"Don't give me that innocent act, baby brother." She throws a seething look over his shoulder toward the table where Tina sits. "What it looks like is you're playing with fire. Maybe just a little matchstick worth of fire, but it can still burn."

"Fire?" he scoffs. He's had front row seats every time the Emma-Mark rollercoaster went off the rails. But Tina was the unlucky bystander, not the engineer. "So Mark can move on, but not Tina?"

"No, no I'm not saying that, it's just—"

"It's just what?" his voice mild. She hates it when he does that.

"She made Mark miserable!" Maggie says with a rush of emotion. She grabs his shoulders. "Do you want to be miserable?"

"Maggie." He gently removes her hands from his shoulders and takes her aside. "First of all, it's bar trivia, not an engagement." Then he makes his voice as gentle as he can. "Lots of people are unhappy in their marriages. I shouldn't have to tell you that."

Maggie sighs. "Fine. Okay. You're right. Can't say I didn't try." She hugs him quickly and releases him again. "But you're gonna explain it to Emma, not me." Then she spins around and goes back to their table.

He tenses for a moment. He will have to explain it to Emma. But not now, there are drinks to get before the second round starts. He's picking up his order from the counter and lifting them above his head when he sees Mark, coming in through the doors. His emergency must be over.

Uh oh, what will Tina do when she sees him? She was already nervous enough about Emma being here. He turns toward the table, to warn her, maybe see if she wants to get out of here after all…

And the table is empty. No sign of her anywhere. Where did she go? The bathroom?

Mark catches his eye and gives him a smiling nod of acknowledgement. "You seen Emma?" he mouths over the heads of the other patrons.

Zach gestures behind him with his head, toward Maggie and Emma's table. Emma will be happy to see him. Maggie will be out a partner, though. Maybe he should take a cue from Tina and disappear as well.

Mark gets close enough to speak aloud. "Thanks, man. Glad it's not over. Emma wasn't answering her phone." He shifts side to side, trying to see past Zach. "You either, did your phone die?"

"Nah, no phones allowed once the game starts, you know that. Some sap got kicked out of the game for using their phone," he says, but he's too distracted thinking about where his own partner went. Maybe Tina just—

Oh.

She must have seen Mark. She'd been brave enough to stay with Emma around, but not Mark. Zach sighs. He really can't blame her.

"What's with the sigh, buddy?" Mark asks, concerned, but not too much. His focus is on Emma, who hasn't seen him yet. "You losing the game?"

No, they were killing it, but Zach was more interested in where the night was going after the game until a few minutes ago. "Too soon to tell," he says instead.

Just then, Emma sees Mark and lets out an excited shout, waving him over. "That's the spirit—play to win!" He excuses himself and heads for Emma and Maggie, easily cutting through the crowd.

Zach stands there for a moment. That was actually damn good advice. He is going to play to win. He could probably get Tina's number from someone... maybe stop by her house the next day… or maybe start frequenting the same shops... Um, maybe try something that's a little less stalkery.

He goes back to the table and sets the drinks down. Should he wait and see if Tina will come back? If she just went to the restroom and then finds him gone, that could be the end of whatever this is. He can't risk that.

He sits down, taking a swig of his beer. A small one—he still has to drive home at the end of the night. But as he sits, his knees bump up against something. Hard.

"Ow," comes from under the table.

Zach peers below. "Tina?" She's curled up as small as a cat.

"Did he see me?" she asks, rubbing her head. "Oh, god, I hope not."

Zach doesn't bother to ask who she means. "I don't think so." He frowns, she's holding the side of her head as if she really got smacked. "I'm sorry. Are you all right?"

"Me?" She smiles and winces. "I'm used to it."

Great, now he's injured her twice in one evening, and they're not even on an official date. "Used to my clumsy limbs?"

Her mouth forms an ‘o' of apology. "No, that's not what I meant at all. I get banged up all the time. I'm just, you know, kind of fragile."

Of course. 'Bird Bones' wasn't her nickname for nothing. "I'm still sorry. They should call me 'Zach Skellington' for how much my lanky frame jangles around."

She giggles, wincing again with pain. Then she whispers apologetically, "I know what I said earlier, but… I'm going to leave. Let me know when the coast is clear, and I'll make a break for it." He must have reacted with concern, because she adds, "Not literally."

Zach throws a totally-not-suspicious glance over at the girls' table, where Mark and Maggie seem to be haggling about who's going to take over as Emma's partner. They're not looking over in Zach's direction at all. "Looks like it's safe now. I can be your barrier, if you want, block their view..."

"Would you?" she asks, tucking her purse under her arm and carefully navigating the chairs to stand. As she does, her eyes light on the fresh glass of wine. She bites her lip. "Sorry about that. Again. I'm gonna pay for that, and I won't take no for an answer, mister." She lifts the flap of her purse and starts digging inside, all the while shooting worried glances over at Mark.

"Stop. Stop, really, stop." He picks up the wine glass and puts it in her hand. "We can take these... to go..."

"Really?" she asks, smile going wide as her eyes. "That's so... bad."

"It is," he agrees. Then he says quickly, "Maggie used to work here, so I can take it back after, just like, slip it in the kitchen with the other dishes, she says they don't take inventory on—" He stops. Takes a breath. "You wanna get out of here?"

Her voice drops. "Yeah."

He holds out his hand, and she clasps it tight. Then they run—as fast as they can with open containers and a mountain of people blocking the way, anyway. It barely registers when Phil calls out, "And here are the winners for Round 1! Third place, The Salted Peanuts Gang with 8 points. Second place, Rock and Body Roll with 9 points. And in first place, with a perfect 10 is—!"

The door closes behind them with a swish. They finally stop running when they're in the alley behind the bar, out of breath and giggling. He's not usually this impulsive, and from what he's heard of Tina, she almost never is. But he's trying something new, and this feels good.

"Where... to... now?" she asks around heaving breaths and another sip of wine.

He looks at her, face flushed, lips pink from the Merlot. "Here works for me."

He takes a step in, close, and she looks up into his eyes. He can't read what's there, not in the shadows of the alley. Is it fear? Desire? Indecision? So he waits, waits for permission to come closer, for permission to touch more than her hand.

She gives it—by placing her hand on his chest. Her fingers splay, and then curl in to grasp the fabric of his shirt. "Here works for me, too."

As she pulls him downward, he slips his hand around her tiny waist. For a split second, he worries about the height difference—will her neck get a crick in it? will he need to brace himself against the wall? But then their lips touch, and he's overwhelmed with her—the taste of Merlot, the smell of the fabric softener she uses, the feel of her hand gripping the fabric of his shirt ever tighter. He hears nothing but the sound of the tiny gasps she's making when their lips briefly part and come back together. Not even the crash of Tina's wine glass shattering on the concrete steals his focus.

But then there's another crash behind them, the lid of the bar's dumpster clanging closed, and they jump apart. "Oh! I'm sorry!" the waitress says, backing away. "I was trying not to disturb—wait. Zach?"

Of course, it would have to be someone who knew him. "Hi, Candy," he says with a little wave.

"Ohhh," she almost sings, "I saw nothing… I was never heeeeeeeere…" She dances away with a secretive smile and closes the door behind her.

"It's okay, right?" Tina asks, stepping farther away from him. He can see wine splatter on the hem of her pants. "She won't say anything?"

He looks down. There's splatter across his shoes as well. "Maggie will probably know within ten minutes, for sure before the next round starts."

"Oh. If Maggie knows, then Emma and Mark will know…" She steps back again, her hands fluttering with nervousness. "Oh my god, I have to get out of here, maybe move to the next state…"

He sets his beer bottle onto the ground and encloses her fluttering hands with both of his. "Tina, it's okay." He wants to enfold her in his arms until she feels safe again, but his hands will have to do for now. "So they're going to find out. Did you like it?"

"The kiss?" She stills, not looking at him. "I liked it."

He lowers his forehead to touch hers, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Do you want to do it again?"

She nods, just a small bob of her chin. So this time he does enfold her, lifting her up onto her tiptoes as he kisses her again. And she's even more ferocious than the first time, pressing into him with need. The beer bottle beside his foot topples over, spilling a tiny river of golden foam under the soles of his shoes. But he ignores it. His hand curls around her rear, lifting her even higher, and he wishes more than anything that they were somewhere else, somewhere more private, somewhere he could really take his time…

"Oh, wow, I did not expect to—I am so sorry, uh, I'm just gonna go—" Maggie's voice pulls them both back to reality. That didn't even take five minutes.

He turns his head toward Maggie, who is shuffling back through the kitchen entrance, eyes covered with a hand. She bumps into the door jamb with one hip and bites back a curse. "What?" he asks in an impatient voice.

"I just— I don't know. I wanted to tell you that Round 2 is starting, ‘cause you probably didn't hear the announcement, what with being so distracted…" She doesn't remove the hand from her eyes.

"I think we're going to forfeit—" He gets a nod of agreement from Tina, who is actively not looking at Maggie as well. "—yeah, we're forfeiting."

"Well, okay, then, I can see why you—" She clears her throat. "We were gonna kick your asses in the next round anyway. You got lucky on the comics question."

"Wait." He stops her before the door closes. "We were beating you?"

"Yeah, but like I said, not for long."

"Team-nado is in first place?"

"Aw," Tina says, "what a cute name!"

"I thought so, too, it just came to me at the last minute!"

Maggie makes a gagging sound. "Oh, ew, stop, just go back to making out and let the rightful trivia champions take over." She quickly shuts the door.

Zach looks at Tina, hoping she's thinking the same thing he is. "So, do you—?"

Then Maggie pops her head back out and waggles a finger at the broken glass around their feet. "But you better clean up that mess pronto. As a former member of the service industry, I can tell you they are not here to clean up your crimes of passion." She's gone with a slam of the door.

Zach immediately drops to a crouch and begins to carefully pick up the shards of glass on the concrete. Tina is right beside him. "So, where next?"

"I don't know," she says, "Maybe we should—"

"—Go back inside?"

She smiles. "Yeah. There are asses to kick."

Heart soaring, he threads his fingers with hers and pulls her back inside. But only after they've finished cleaning up the glass, of course.

**Author's Note:**

> Update Ep 3.06 (July 2017): EEEK, it actually happened! And the show even made a "Zach Skellington" reference, I am dying.


End file.
